Hydrosphere Staff
John N. Winchester
Engineering Manager
Mr. Winchester is a water resources engineer with 16 years' experience in water resources planning, analysis and design. He specializes in water resources modeling, water rights analysis, hydrology, design and construction, and wildfire science.
Mr. Winchester has developed and applied models of river basins, distribution systems, raw water collection systems and hydrology. He has particular expertise in issues related to the Arkansas River, where he has been the project manager on a number of modeling projects. These models have been used to simulate water rights, evaluate daily exchange potential, estimate storage requirements, forecast reservoir reserves, and analyze municipal water supply systems operations.
In the water rights arena, Mr. Winchester has worked for both applicants and objectors in Colorado water court. This work has included quantifying historical diversions and consumptive yield, estimating potential injury from change of use or point of diversion, and determining exchange potential. He has assembled augmentation plans, and has designed accounting systems that satisfy the State Engineer's Office decree compliance requirements.
He was the lead hydrologist on a team that prepared an Environmental Impact Statement to quantify the hydrologic response of the Santa Fe watershed to catastrophic wildfire. The analysis included calculation of annual average and peak flows, and erosion and sedimentation rates for a set of forest management alternatives. He was also the project manager for the Upper San Pedro Watershed Wildfire Hazard Assessment and Mitigation Plan, a project with significant public involvement, where the objective was to analyze the wildfire hazard of 172 square miles adjacent to the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area.
For the New Mexico Interstate Stream Commission, Mr. Winchester developed an accounting tool to track water operations on the Pecos River. The tool was developed using results from a RiverWare model of the basin, and is used to track depletions and subsequent replacement water as part of modified reservoir operations for the federally threatened Pecos Bluntnose Shiner. The RiverWare model was used to develop efficiency rating curves for the modified reservoir operations and replacement water deliveries.
Mr. Winchester has had a wide variety of field experience. He has done field reconnaissance to prepare for design work, to enhance computer model development, and to provide background information for permit applications and environmental assessment. In addition to manually collecting data on countless hydrologic and water quality parameters, he has installed data collection and telemetry equipment for measuring, recording and transmitting hydrologic information.
Mr. Winchester's work has been published in a number of conference proceedings. He is a Registered Professional Engineer in Colorado, New Mexico and Oklahoma. He is also a Certified Professional Hydrologist with the American Institute of Hydrology and is certified to conduct Stream Stability and Connected Disturbed Area assessments in Regions 2 and 4 of the U.S. Forest Service.
Mr. Winchester holds an MS in Civil Engineering and a BS in Watershed Sciences from Colorado State University.